A Survey of RTS Game AI Research and Competition in StarCraft (2013) [pdf] (opens in new tab)

(webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca)

49 pointsmrtbld11y ago26 comments

26 comments

Glad to see the scene is still alive and well. Back when it was picking up I made a Ruby client to one of the server based BWAPI clients, I built a really neat Ruby API to it too. Unfortunately I invested so much time at that point the actual 'AI' I made just 6-pooled the opponent, in just 44 lines though[1]!

Lately the release of mruby made me think maybe I should try again :) (mruby seriously reduces the amount of effort required in getting Ruby to talk to BWAPI.)

1] https://github.com/d-snp/RProxyBot/blob/master/basic_ai.rb

Lambdanaut11y ago

I used the python BWAPI client. I recently tried to get back into it but it seemed a lot more buggy and BWAPI wouldn't run on my newer Windows PC. :/

It was a lot of fun. Figuring out a base layout was the most difficult part for me. I ended up using the random function and placing buildings around my main base at random offsets. Didn't get too far with that, haha.

tinco11y ago

Yeah, silly problems like that really made being competitive with established AI's or even players hard. Just an AI that sets up a base properly and manages to build a proper army at the right timings but without any strategic insight into the opponent or even micro-decision making (which unit targets which opponent) will still do very decently, just because all the boiler plate is so much work not many AI's get to the actually being 'intelligent' part.

sauere11y ago

I played the sh*t out of Broodwar (and nowadays, SC2 HOTS) but i never heard about this Bot league. Thank you, this was a very interesting read.

qznc11y ago

Is there a human vs bot comparison?

2Pacalypse-11y ago

Yes. Here's a video[0] of the winner in 2014 StarCraft AI Competition against one of the better human player.

More can be found at their official website[1] under Media/Files tab.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQI1wyRmeUQ

[1] http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~cdavid/starcraftaicomp/

ctchocula11y ago

Seems the TvZ part of the bot could be improved by getting up turrets in time. Maybe they could get the bot to do a statistical analysis of builds they are likely to face in each match-up and use a build order that counters it.

1 more reply

qznc11y ago

AI tries to defend with siege tanks against airborne mutalisks??

3 more replies

z3t411y ago

I don't know any games besides chess and tic tac toe where a bot have been able to beat a good player ...

cjbprime11y ago

Your research is out of date, then. :) Even the game of Go, thought to be the hardest for computers, now has bots at the 6-dan (stronger than >99% of humans will ever be) level.

2Pacalypse-11y ago

What about any FPS? Instant headshots would be hard to deal with.

Argorak11y ago

TicTacToe can be easily played to a draw, unconditionally. Optimal play is simple, even for humans and optimal play leads to a draw.

ctchocula11y ago

Poker bots made by the same university have been able to defeat human experts in heads-up limit play [1].

[1] http://poker.cs.ualberta.ca/man-machine/

plainsight11y ago

Checkers is solved too (AI will always draw or win).

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

26 comments

tinco11y ago

Lately the release of mruby made me think maybe I should try again :) (mruby seriously reduces the amount of effort required in getting Ruby to talk to BWAPI.)

1] https://github.com/d-snp/RProxyBot/blob/master/basic_ai.rb

Lambdanaut11y ago

I used the python BWAPI client. I recently tried to get back into it but it seemed a lot more buggy and BWAPI wouldn't run on my newer Windows PC. :/

tinco11y ago

sauere11y ago

I played the sh*t out of Broodwar (and nowadays, SC2 HOTS) but i never heard about this Bot league. Thank you, this was a very interesting read.

qznc11y ago

Is there a human vs bot comparison?

2Pacalypse-11y ago

Yes. Here's a video[0] of the winner in 2014 StarCraft AI Competition against one of the better human player.

More can be found at their official website[1] under Media/Files tab.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQI1wyRmeUQ

[1] http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~cdavid/starcraftaicomp/

ctchocula11y ago

1 more reply

qznc11y ago

AI tries to defend with siege tanks against airborne mutalisks??

3 more replies

z3t411y ago

I don't know any games besides chess and tic tac toe where a bot have been able to beat a good player ...

cjbprime11y ago

Your research is out of date, then. :) Even the game of Go, thought to be the hardest for computers, now has bots at the 6-dan (stronger than >99% of humans will ever be) level.

2Pacalypse-11y ago

What about any FPS? Instant headshots would be hard to deal with.

Argorak11y ago

TicTacToe can be easily played to a draw, unconditionally. Optimal play is simple, even for humans and optimal play leads to a draw.

ctchocula11y ago

Poker bots made by the same university have been able to defeat human experts in heads-up limit play [1].

[1] http://poker.cs.ualberta.ca/man-machine/

plainsight11y ago

Checkers is solved too (AI will always draw or win).

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse